Sunday, June 3, 2012

Ottawa - Politics, Museums and a photo competition

After a great night’s sleep in one of the best hostels I
have stayed in, I woke up early, refreshed and ready to go. I dint have much of
a plan for the day, but decided in the end to visit the number one site of
Ottawa - The Parliament building.

This is where the Prime Minister sits with his government the
same as every other government in the world. But this is a special building,
built in a prime position in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, on a hill,
overlooking the river and with great views. I took the first tour of the day
and looked around the inside of the gothic style building, including the
beautiful wooden library, which was the only surviving part of a fire in the
early 1900’s. After the tour I sat for a while in the public viewing gallery
and watched the government making their decisions – actually there were only
about 20 ministers there and most seemed to be texting or playing games on
their phones.

I wanted to come back for the daily question period – a bit
like Prime Minister question time and decided to have a quick 2 hour walk
around town beforehand. So I visited the locks on the Rideau Canal, right in
the centre if the city, but a lovely peaceful area too, before a wander around
the outside of the stunning glass building that is The National Gallery,
complete with 10 metre high spider statue. Opposite the Gallery is Notre Dame Cathedral,
which looked very similar to the Church of the same name in Ho Chi Minh City in
Vietnam, but has stunning silver looking towers. Then I had a quick lunch stop
for a ‘Beavertail’. This is a hot fresh pastry, covered with a topping of your
choice and a local speciality. I went for an Avalanche – which is covered with cheesecake
topping and chocolate. It was very sweet but also really nice.

A sunny evening in Ottawa

Parliament

Rideau locks

Cool spider thing!

Beavertail

A quick walk around and then it was back into the parliament
for question time. There are no cameras allowed in there, so I have no pictures
but it was fun. The two opposite parties bickered and shouted abuse at each
other a lot– the best bit was when the NDP was proud to announce their website
would be off for one day in recognition of some charity. The Conservatives all
went mental, clapping and cheering as they took the piss and said that no one
looks at the website anyway! It was a fun hour or so.

The final stop today was just upstairs – in the clock tower
that is actually called ‘The Peace Tower’. It has great 360 degree views over
the whole city as well as a glass panel inside the lift, so that you can see
the bells inside the tower as you ascend and descend. I stayed up there a while
before finally heading back to the hostel for a well earned rest.

I went back out in the evening to see if the city looked
different all lit up and got lucky. The Parliament building was being set up
for a light show to celebrate the bosses Diamond Jubilee. So I sat on the grass
for a while and watched and the building was lit up by spotlights and projector
as the sun dropped out of the sky and darkness fell. It was well worth watching
and taking photos till my camera battery died.

Parliament at night

From the peace tower

Friday was a rainy day in Ottawa. I decided, actually after
throwing the dice again, to go to The Canadian Museum of Civilisation

This museum is across the river in a building that has more
curves than a curvy curly thing! In fact the building has supposedly got no
corners at all, although being me I did search and found one inside. But they
are supposed to bring bad karma or something, so the building is therefore
built out of curves and is quite stunning. Even more stunning is inside when
you go into the great hall – a 30-40 metres high open space with huge totem
poles down one side and massive windows from floor to the ceiling. It’s a cool
place. The rest of the museum is also very interesting – a walkthrough history
of Canada and its native people as well as a few other exhibits like the
Mayans.

My favourite part was the walk through the old towns of
Canada – life sized buildings and rooms showing how things worked back in the
day – especially the grain elevator (very common in Manitoba). I now know what
goes on inside one of these giants!

The curvy museum

Inside the great hall

Add caption

It was still early when I left there and so I headed back
across the Alexandra Bridge and to the National Gallery of Canada. This is a
mix of traditional paintings and more modern art.

I wasn’t too excited by the old art, but some of the other
stuff was brilliant. In the basement of the gallery is a full sized re-built
chapel (Rideau Chapel). Cool, on its own, but it has an installation of a choir
singing, but each chorister has been individually recorded and has his own
speaker with just his voice on – including having a chinwag between hymns. The
40 speakers are placed around the chapel and give you a full 360 surround sound
– brilliant – apart from getting bollocked by the guard for trying to video it.

Also in the gallery are modern arty things, some great and
others weird. There is a really cool film called ‘The Clock’, which runs in
real time for 24 hours and has thousands of film clips that involve clocks or
watches and the time. I sat down at 3.40pm and soon realised that the time on
the movie clips was also 3.40pm and moving at real time through the clips. The
clips vary from old black and white movies to modern TV and movies and
obviously as the film runs, the time in the clips moves with real time. I found
myself checking every now and then to make sure it was right. They also have 24
hour shows a few times a year, so that you can see the whole film in real time.There’s more about it here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/apr/07/christian-marclay-the-clock

Also in the gallery is a small pool that you can view from
on the same level, above from a balcony or if you go down to the entrance hall,
you can get underneath it. It’s also really cool.

The 'Choir'

A box full of condensation

Above....

...and below

I didn’t expect much from both of the museums I visited
today, but I’m glad I took the time to see them as they are both really great
places, in amazing buildings and definitely places to visit in Ottawa.

Saturday was a planned lazy day. I have done so much in the
last two weeks I need a day doing very little. A bonus is that there was also
an England game to watch at lunchtime and hockey on TV tonight. The England
game was ok and after I did head out for a wander around to check where
tomorrows hostel is (It's a jail) and to have a stroll by the river. I have
also downloaded a couple of applications for my phone camera – instagram and
streamzoo – both of which allow you to play with and improve your photos. Take
a look at them...I have also played with one photo on my netbook, so let me
know which is best.

The original photo....

Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

Which photo do you like best out of these!?! Please leave a comment and let me know....I will then know which method to use to play with future ones.

1 comment:

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